Peter Beaumont on the Algerian special forces who took back the Amenas gas plant, the Guardian Editor-In-Chief Alan Rusbridger on the rescue of Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Formica is 100 years old and this weeks audiobooks review listens to the best of Ryamond Chandler

When Guardian correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad was seized reporting Libya's civil war, editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger flew out to secure his release. In an extract from his book, he tells of a surreal three days in Tripoli negotiating with Gaddafi's ministers, being trailed by spooks and practising Chopin in a deserted hotel

Could a determined amateur pianist master Chopin's great Ballade No 1 in G minor, Op 23, described by experts as 'one of the hardest pieces in the repertoire'? Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian's editor, gave himself a year

A daily magazine within the serious pages of a broadsheet newspaper? What was the Guardian thinking? Alan Rusbridger recalls the excitement of launching the much-imitated features section in October 1992